Christian Identity History of Hate, Irrationalism

Identity is a movement fueled by religious fanaticism and racism. Its
adherents are heavily armed and have been willing to take violent action. Members
of Identity are capable of becoming Americanized versions of the anti-government
religious extremists seen abroad, a full-scale terrorist underground.

Identity groups such as The Covenant, Sword and Arm of The Lord (CSA),
the White Patriot Party, the Posse Comitatus, Aryan Nations and the Order
have been responsible for the racist right's most violent incidents over
the past 20 years. Convicted members of the Order committed murders and
armed robberies.

The man convicted in the Oklahoma City bombing reportedly was in contact
with an Oklahoma Identity compound just days before the disaster. Telephone
records reveal that Timothy McVeigh placed two calls to Elohim City, a
22-year-old armed Identity enclave headed by Robert Millar. Millar admitted
these calls were made, but denied speaking to McVeigh personally.

Millar's strong ties to violent Identity adherents are well known. On
April 20, 1995, Millar returned from Arkansas with the body of Richard
Wayne Snell, an Identity adherent and former CSA member executed the day
before for the 1983 murder of a pawnshop owner he had mistakenly thought
to be Jewish. Snell had previously been convicted for the murder of a black
Arkansas state trooper in 1984.

Snell's last words took the form of an extremist theological warning:
"Governor Tucker, look over your shoulder. Justice is on the way.
I won't trade places with you or any of your political cronies. Hail His
victory.

I am at peace." Millar was mentor to both Snell and CSA founder
James Ellison. According to a former CSA member, Millar and his followers
believe someone will soon be resurrected from the dead to lead the white
Israelites in battle against the satanic federal government. After Millar
recovered Snell's body, the casket was left open in the event that Snell
should be this "savior."

Identity warriors have been in the forefront of the extremist paramilitary
movement since the 1960s. William Potter Gale, a major U.S. guerrilla strategist
during World War II, and Robert DePugh, founder of the ultra-rightist Minutemen,
were fervent Identity followers and early proponents of "unorganized
militias."

During the 1980s, their efforts were carried on by Louis Beam, former
Klan Grand Dragon and founder of the paramilitary Texas Emergency Reserve,
Glenn Miller and Stephen Miller, organizers of the White Patriot Party,
CSA leader Jim Ellison, and James Wickstrom, the anti-Semitic firebrand
of the Posse Comitatus.

Today, Beam and Wickstrom are heavily involved in the militia movement
as strategists. Numerous other Identity adherents are also involved: Pete
Peters, Dave Barley, John Trochmann, Eustace Mullins, Tom Stetson, James
Bruggeman, Earl Jones, Robert Kelly and Paul Hall. Kelly and Hall publish
two major Identity/Patriot newspapers; The American's Bulletin and The
Jubilee, respectively.

In October 1992, Identity became firmly established at the vanguard
of the growing militia/Patriot movement at an Estes Park, Colorado, meeting.
The Estes Park conclave was a three-day strategy session involving 160
white activists convened by Pete Peters.

This diverse gathering of Klansmen,
neo-Nazis, Posse Comitatus partisans, anti-abortion zealots and tax protesters
was united by the fatal stand-off at Randy Weaver's Idaho retreat that
had occurred just 60 days prior to the meeting.

Non-Identity attendees such as Larry Pratt, director of Gun Owners of
America, and Steve Graber, former regional director of the conservative
Rutherford Institute, were featured speakers. But Identity leaders Peters,
Beam, Richard Butler, Charles Weisman, Chris Temple, John Weaver and many
others from "white Israel, dominated the Estes Park meeting.

In the years since the Estes Park meeting, the links between the Identity
and militia movements have grown even stronger. Identity pastors and their
followers have established active networks throughout the militia/ Patriot
movement.

At an April 1995 Identity gathering in Branson, Mo., where Gun
Owners of America executive director Pratt appeared, attendees were urged
to seek common ground with non-racist Christian fundamentalists through
their shared beliefs on abortion, gay rights, home schooling and Bible-based
laws.

Bo Gritz, a charismatic former Special Forces commander in Vietnam and
one-time running mate on David Duke's Populist Party campaign for President,
has been a regular on the Identity speaking circuit since 1990.

Gritz has spoken at Peters' Scriptures For America Identity "Bible
Camps" on at least two occasions and was featured at the First National
Identity-Christian Conference in North Carolina. At that 1991 gathering
of Klansmen, neo-Nazis and other white supremacists, Gritz shared the podium
with Confederate Knights of the Ku Klux Klan Imperial Wizard Terry Boyce
and Identity leaders Richard K. Hoskins and Robert Weems.

Despite Gritz's track record on the white supremacist speaking circuit,
he enjoys favorable publicity in the national media, where he is often
portrayed as a crusty nonconformist. Gritz promotes real estate developments
called "Almost Heaven" and "Shenandoah."

He describes
these developments as "Christian Covenant Communities." Given
his relationship with Identity and his advocacy of paramilitary training,
his "Covenant Communities" are likely to attract like-minded
followers.

Whether Identity adherents band together in one location or pursue their
apocalyptic beliefs within mainstream communities, the threat from the
expanding sect is significant. As the year 2000 approaches, there is a
risk that many in the growing Identity movement will attempt to bring their
apocalyptic vision to reality through violence.